Tigers finish second in home tournament

Fort Scott High's Emmah Reeves (left) returns serve as No. 1 doubles teammate Char Hutchison looks on during a match against a team from Independence during the Fort Scott Invitational Tuesday afternoon at the high school courts.

Fort Scott High School's girls varsity tennis team hosted its annual home tournament Tuesday afternoon, coming away a first-place medal and two seconds in the four-school round-robin. And the Tigers got to play in front of a good-sized crowd, at least at the high-school courts where the No. 1 pools of singles and doubles were held.

"It's always nice to get that one opportunity each season to play at home and enjoy having a supportive crowd there to watch," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "We were really happy to see so many come out to support the girls."

Jennifer Harrison (14-8) won the No. 1 singles pool with a 3-0 record. She heat Halei Matthews of Independence, 8-5, and shut out Columbus' Lexi Murdock and Labette County's Haley Page.

Fort Scott's Jennifer Harrison readies to return a volley from Independence's Halei Matthews during play in the Fort Scott Tournament Tuesday afternoon. Harrison went 3-0 as she finished first in No. 1 singles. (Scott Nuzum/Tribune)

"Jennifer had a solid tournament," Barr said. "Her first match against Matthews was close through the first half of the match, then Jennifer pulled away at the end. In her next two rounds, Jennifer was pretty much in control throughout the match. Jennifer is playing with a little more confidence now that she has been able to get on a little bit of a winning streak and hopefully this will carry through as we get into the SEK and Regional tournaments."

Char Hutchison and Emmah Reeves (9-13) were 2-1 in No. 2 singles for second place. They lost to Independence's Katie Capps/Alex Keller in the first round, 8-3. But they defeated Laytham Kitch and Madi White of Columbus, 8-1, and Marlee and Selena Perez of Labette County, 8-2.

"Char and Emmah had a good tournament," Barr said. "In the first match against Indy, they made a few too many errors, just trying to over hit and do too much with the ball at times. They settled in and just played good solid doubles in the remaining two matches and were successful. All they need to do is play good doubles, eliminate some errors and they can be successful."

Mikayla Norris and Breanna Leslie played together in No. 2 singles for the first time since Norris was injured just before play started at Independence on Sept. 11. Norris and Leslie (5-7) also finished in second place. They lost to Qwynn Marquez/Chelsea Cushing of Independence, 8-3. They picked up an 8-1 win over Abby Zahn and Kaley Murillo of Columbus and finished with an 8-3 win over Candance Carr/Kierston Sailsbury of Labette County.

"Mikayla and Breanna also had a good tournament." Barr said. "It was nice to have Mikayla back after her injury. The big key for these to two is to win the points that they should win and eliminate more of the unforced errors."

Alex King (7-12) was 1-2 in the No. 2 singles pool. She lost to Emily Wilson of Independence, 8-3, and Laney Baughman of Labette County, 8-4. She defeated teammate Ashlee Montojo, who was filling in for an empty Columbus spot, 8-3.

"Alex played some good tennis with both of her losses being in close matches," Barr said. "She just needs to keep working on making herself harder to beat and making good decisions on the court."

The Tigers were scheduled to play in Pittsburg Thursday. They are also scheduled to host a dual versus Nevada Tuesday.